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TheModel 7/32 andModel 8/32 were32-bitminicomputers introduced byPerkin-Elmer after they acquiredInterdata, Inc., in 1973. The 7/32 and 8/32 are primarily remembered for being the first 32-bit minicomputers under $10,000.[1][2]
The 8/32, introduced in March 1975, was a more powerful machine than the 7/32, augmented by a number of options including the notable feature of a writable control store, allowing user-programmable microcode to be employed, a floating-point processor, and a high-speed data handling extension.[3] It increased the memory bus width to 32 bits from 16, although it maintained a 16-bit input/output bus to utilise existing controllers and to avoid the costly process of developing "double-wide" controllers.[4]
After the commercial success of the microcodedIBM System/360 series ofmainframe computers, variousstartup companies arrived on the scene to bringmicrocode technology to the smallerminicomputers. Among these companies werePrime Computer,Microdata, and Interdata. Interdata used microcode to define an architecture that was heavily influenced by the IBM System/360 instruction set. TheDOS-type real-time serial/multitasking operating system was called OS/32.
The Model 7/32 and 8/32 both provided full-word data processing and direct addressing up to 1 MB of memory through the use of 32-bit general registers and a comprehensive instruction set.[5] Both systems used a memory cycle time of 750 ns, but the 8/32 was able to operate at a 300 ns "effective cycle time" through the use of two "instruction lookahead stacks" and interleaved memory.[6]
Other architectural differences include the following:
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The 7/32 and 8/32 became the computers of choice in large scaleembedded systems, such asFFT machines used in real-timeseismic analysis,CAT scanners, andflight simulator systems. They were also often used as non-IBM peripherals inIBM networks, serving the role ofHASPworkstations andspooling systems, so calledRJE (Remote Job Entry) stations. For example, the computers behind the firstSpace Shuttlesimulator consisted of thirty-six 32-bit minis inputting and/or outputting data to networked mainframe computers (bothIBM andUNIVAC), all inreal-time.
The 8/32 was used in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, Department of Planetary Sciences at theUniversity of Arizona for research purposes.[7]
The 8/32 was also employed byMathematical Applications Group, Inc. (MAGI) to produce the vast majority of the3D computer-generated imagery(CGI) in the 1982 filmTron.[citation needed] While CGI had been used during the 1970s for minor segments of film work (such as titles),Tron was the first film by a major producer that made extensive use of CGI.
The standardoperating system for the 7/32 and 8/32 was Interdata'sOS/32. At MIT, by 1976, Interdata computers were being used by theArchitecture Machine Group and Joint Computer Facility at MIT, using theFORTRAN andPL/I programming languages.
Unix was ported to the platform in 1977 by two groups, working independently; to the 7/32 atWollongong University,[8] and to the 8/32 atBell Labs, making the 32-bit Interdata machines the first non-PDP computers to run Unix (SeeV6 Unix § portability).[8][9] Bell chose the 8/32 for its port because the Interdata computer was as different from the DECPDP-11 as possible.[10] Perkin-Elmer distributed the Wollongong Unix port as Perkin-Elmer Edition 7, the first version of Unix supported by a computer company.[8]
By 1979, researchers at the Architecture Machine Group created an operating system modelled onMultics calledMagic 6, which featured the Multics concepts of pages, segments and dynamic linking, but had no security checks.[11]
SIMH, the historical computer emulator project, includes emulators for the 7/32 and 8/32, as well as their 16-bit minicomputers.
TheLiving Computers Museum + Labs had a 7/32 on display with attached teletype.[12]